The Sand Cherry
by WeirdAnimeChick
Summary: Sakura runs into Gaara on an unexpected meeting, will it develope into something more and will Sasuke's jealousy overpower him? If only they all didn't have something to hide. GaaraXSakura GaaXSaku. Couple chapters left to go.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Sand Cherry

Chapter: 1

Sub-title: An Unexpected Meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Sakura P.O.V.

I walked to the Academy as per usual; only today I was practically shaking with excitement for it was almost time for us to graduate. This meant that we would become real ninja's and finally protect the village and finally be respected.

I suppressed my need to grin stupidly as I passed the Yamanaka Flower shop which, as if on cue, produced the youngest member of said family.

"Morning, _Forehead Girl_." The blonde spat at me with practiced spite.

"Morning to you too, Ino-_pig_." I shot back instinctively teasing my partial friend.

We both smiled, knowing very well where to draw the line to their bordering sisterly friendship. So without any fanfare or forewarning we started our race towards the school, side by side, like we always did.

We broke into a full out run, each having our moments in the lead until we came upon a corner to the narrow street we took to the Academy, in other words, the perfect place to keep the lead and win the race.

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Outside P.O.V.

They tore towards their turn, each well aware of the victory they would accomplish if they got their first. Unfortunately for Ino, her pink-haired companion was in the lead as they neared the corner, thus allowing her to cut right to the front as she turned first. The only problem was that someone happened to be walking around the same corner, causing a collision in which they young Academy student's lips were forced onto those of the person she ran into.

Ino, thinking that it was no more than a simply figured that this was her perfect chance to win their unstated challenge, ran past the two unsuspected, entangled people with not even a look back at them. The blonde smirked as her winning infected mind pushed her to run faster towards the school to claim her victory and soon she was out of sight.

Sakura broke away from the person she had accidentally kissed a very red blush adorning her pale skin and her eyes finding interest in her sandal coated feet. "OH GOD IM SO SORRY!" she exclaimed, embarrassed and slightly petrified about her unintended actions. She looked up to see the view the person she had run into. It just so happened to be a fiery red head who seemed to be in just as much shock as the female in front of him.

Her eyes widened; both she and Gaara still standing parallel to each other in an awkward silence, unsure about what to do about their present situation. In a moment of fear of what this slightly scary looking man might do to her, Sakura backed up a few paces seriously ready to run to her house just in case. She obviously did not care if she was late for school anymore, as long as she made it through this encounter alive.

'**Oh wow! He is **_**hot!**_**' inner Sakura deadpanned, showing up at the most inappropriate time she probably could.**

'_What the hell? Do you not sense his aura? He could kill us and your telling me that he's how!?'_

'**Well obviously! Besides, I know you think so too. Not a bad person to lose your first kiss with.'**

'_Oh shut the hell up.'_ _Sakura quipped back. _

The inner conflict between the soon-to-be-ninja and her soul distracted her so completely that she had stopped inching backwards and allowed her opposition to advance on her. The red hear lifted his hand, moving it slowly across his now cornered adversary and rested the appendage upon its parallel on the female before him. This jerked the girl out of her inner argument and into a sense of panic once more.

Before the newly grounded girl could do anything she was wrenched towards the red head so that his mouth was by her ear. "Quite forward aren't we?" He growled, causing her breath to hitch.

A shiver ran down her spine, making her aware of the cold sweat that was dancing down her face. Sakura tried to swallow, trying to force down her fear and the lump in her throat with the pooling saliva in her mouth. Her head was wrenched to the side and teas swarmed to the edge of her eyes, from the pain or the fear she didn't know, but all uncertainty and coherency was forced out of her mind as lips covered her own once more, only this time it was intentional and this time it was different.

In her hazy mind Sakura thought she heard an angry yell and when the man before her moved so he too could see the person who was disturbing them, he unknowingly allowed the pink haired girl to see the male seething with what appeared to be anger.

"Get the fuck off of her you bastard!" Sasuke yelled, facing the narrow street that many passed with a lack of interest.

Gaara smirked as the raven glared at him full out, paying no mind to the brightly coloured girl now behind him or the fact that the Uchiha seemed about ready to kill him on the spot. "That's all I wanted." Was all he said before leaving in a flourish of sand leaving nothing but an infuriated Sasuke and a thoroughly embarrassed Sakura in his wake.

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A/N: Revised Chapter of The Sand Cherry, hope you don't mind. Hope it improved and hope it didn't change too much especially since I'm bringing the story to a close soon. I appologize for doing this instead of updateing but I feel this is just as important.

Any good? Thank you for reading this unbetad piece…

-WAC


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Sand Cherry

Chapter: 2

Sub-title: The Challenge

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Sakura stared at her crush in disbelief as he continued to seethe in anger at the new turn of events. She decided to test the waters, "Sasuke-kun?" he turned his glare to her and growled in the back of his throat, something, the female noticed, that boys tended to do a lot of when they got possessive.

'**Infested waters: stay clear!'** Inner Sakura joked to her other self, still giddy from their earlier kiss with the red headed ninja and thus acting twice as childish as per usual.

'_Don't even start with me.'_

'**But that guy was practically swimming in that demonic aura and on top of that he is **_**fine**_**!"**

The embodied spirit inwardly glared at her other self. _'Shut the hell up you psychopathic spirit! You're about as mature and helpful as Naruto in class.'_

'**You know; I've always liked that kid-'**

With a growl from the seen spirit and a giggle from other their argument stopped and the kunoichi was thrust back into reality. Noticing that Sasuke was still pissed and was probably going to start yelling at her for the kiss that was forced upon her, she decided that it would be best to vacate the area. So with nothing more than a sheepish smile towards the black haired male she took off running towards the Academy and what she hopped was sanctuary.

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With Sasuke

After Sakura had left his side the Uchiha immediately sighed at the events that were now unfolding. If only he hadn't done that, if only his pride would allow him to apologize, if only he wasn't an Uchiha.

Deciding that he should probably attend class as well, he followed Sakura's leave and fled towards the ninja school where he would beat the red head at his own game and get some points when his competitor had a penalty, after all, this is how games were one. With this new thought in his head the raven picked up his pace in order to reach his goal that much faster.

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With Sakura

Sakura walked into the classroom feeling dead on her feet and trying to act natural while staggering over to her blonde haired friend. "Hey, Ino, I had a bit of a road block, had fun racing yourself?" A tint of red adorned her cheeks and the already pink covered shinobi tried to cover over her new facial feature by acting natural and starting to banter with the Yamanaka girl before her.

The other ninja ignored the bait, "As long as I have an iced tea at lunch time to quench my undying thirst, I mean, I am quite the opponent I'll have you know!"

Both females started laughing, lightening Sakura's mood and making her feel much more relaxed then she had before. The green eyed girl sighed, her laughter dieing in the calming vocalization, before smiling in the aftermath of the not–so-funny comment. Maybe today wouldn't be such a bad day, after all, if one can laugh at the stupidity of such a phrase than one must be in a decent mood that allows such mirth and happiness.

The glass-half-full attitude that the pink lover had going for her didn't last long, for soon after her spirits were lifted they came crashing down again at the entry of the youngest Uchiha. The black haired male walked into the room, slightly perspiring at the speed he had made his journey at. Sasuke's eyes scanned the room, resting upon duel spirited girl and his body followed in his sights footsteps and found its way over to where she stood. He passed by with nothing more than eyes lingering on her form and a brush of his hand with hers, depositing what felt like paper within the females grasp before striding away to his seat where he would continue to watch her inconspicuously.

As Iruka-sensei entered the room the class took their seats, Sakura still blushing at the feel of Sasuke's obsidian orbs on her back. She fiddled with the note still in her hand as the chunnin started teaching the class about figuring out the fastest way to reach your destination and what sort of things you would probably have to factor in, a lesson that could not hold the verdant eyed girls attention span for long.

She returned to the note, contemplating tearing the thing to shreds instead of reading it. She started weighing the pros and cons of each option before deciding that she just didn't care anymore. The almost kunoichi had started her first incision when someone knocked on the door, averting her attention from the task at hand, much like the note had done from the lesson.

As Sakura cursed her curiosity and her possible, still being debated upon, ADD Iruka conversed with whoever had disrupted the class before turning back to his pupils and clearing his throat for their attention. "Alright class, today we are receiving three new transfer students from Sungakure; Temari, Kankuro and Gaara." Each of the kids entered the room as their names were called. "Now, they are new in this village and so I want you to make them feel at home here!"

The pink haired girls cheerful thoughts burned at the bottom of the pit they had fallen in. This was indeed shaping up to be the worst day of her life, not even new transfer students could take her mind off of the former events. Why? Because the last sibling and obviously the youngest of the three, was the man that she had earlier locked lips with.

The memory replayed in her memory again and she was sure that today would force a permanent blush upon her face for the rest of her life which was just what she had hoped for when she woke up this morning.

"Shikamaru," the call of one of her peers names caught the pale girls attention again, "can you please show Temari around?" Without waiting for the "troublesome" reply from the lazy student, their teacher continued to survey the room for other promising candidates. "Hinata, please show Kankuro around?" The shy girl nodded and the man was once again on the move for his final victim, "And Sakura, will you please show Gaara around? I would be most grateful to all of you for these three are just starting lives in Konoha, so if you could stay with them at all times and help them around town, anything they require of you, until they get the feel for Konohagakure?"

The three almost Leaf gennin nodded in affirmative at the half demand, no one dared defy Iruka-sensei, he was a good teacher and you always felt bad if you turned down a request from him. Sakura was not sure which would be worse, dealing with the unrelenting guilt that would be acquired or dealing with the man who had stolen her first kiss. Either way, whether she liked it or not, she was stuck with the latter now.

"Okay, now go sit at the same table as your guide and pay attention." The teacher returned to the chalkboard behind him to draw a demonstration while the Sand siblings took their seats. Sakura almost groaned as the red head took his seat beside her and smirked at her blushing face.

The female turned her head away from the new boy, just enough as to not draw attention to herself but enough to get the message across that she was still irate about earlier. The man being ignored scoffed and blew in the girl's newly visible ear before whispering darkly in it. "Stay away from the Uchiha."

A shiver ran down Sakura's spine as she tried to inconspicuously escape from her tormenter. Upon her success, or lack there of, she faced the red head once more, glaring as well as she could manage with a blush engulfing her features and replied in what was supposed to be scathingly, "N…ne…never."

He stole a kiss as the girl's lips came together once more, a kiss that was relinquished to the captivity of a high pitched scream as she fell backwards, into the isle and away from Gaara, unconscious. As people sat, stunned in their seat at the sudden outburst, the feuding males crouched over the fainted girl accompanied by their frantic instructor.

Sasuke practically covered Sakura's with his own, checking to make sure he was still breathing all the while hoping that he would be the first thing she saw when she finally regained consciousness. Gaara leaned in towards Sasuke, pretending to peer at the girl over the Uchiha's shoulder, but secretly delivering a message to the boy instead, "That's three for me."

The raven recoiled, understanding exactly what Gaara meant and amazed that someone would attempt it. His wide, obsidian eyes roamed over the form of his new adversary, this man, this boy, this…_thing_ was challenging him. He narrowed his eyes almost making them look purely black. "I accept, monster."

There was no emphasis on the name Sasuke called him but it made the red head's ire pool in his stomach and made his head throb. He roughly shoved the other person away from the still oblivious body and lifted it up, bridal style.

"I'm glad, duck-boy." He snarled back, shifting Sakura's head so that it was resting against his chest rather than lolling over his arm. He turned, breaking his glaring contest with Sasuke and stalked out of the room in the direction he hoped was the infirmary.

After the sand child left, all eyes turned to a furious Sasuke, still kneeling on the floor, expecting for him to do something akin to storming out after the recently departed pair. The audience was disappointed as the raven simply returned to his seat, glaring straight ahead, ready to continue with the class which Iruka-sensei was more than happy to oblige to.

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A/N: Second rewritten chapter of The Sand Cherry, hope you liked it and I hope it made more sense than the last chapter two (which wouldn't be saying much)! If the next chapter still has a title that you can see without going to the chapter (it says something that is besides "Chapter (insert number here)" then it has not been revised. Thank you once again.

Review?

-WAC


	3. Challenge Engaged

_**Note:**_ I'm so glad that everyone likes this story I've only had it going on for just over 2 days now and its published! thank you guys so much. I wasn't planning on writing another chapter till next weekend but hey! what the hell? its only 3:45 in the AM why not write another chapter with no idea on me? lets do it to it! anywho I just wanted to say that, I love your guys' reviews, thank you so much! and I hope my chapters live up to your expectations, I get them read before posted just to make sure! except for the first chapter...that one I just posted...and my reader person didn't think you guys would like the kiss' at the end. cause she wrote a story and people sent her reviews saying "love doesn't happen like that!" anyway without boring you to pieces anymore I will stop typing this part of it. oh SORRY! one more thing! if these chapters do not live up to your expectations, I'm sorry, BOWS.

_**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Naruto! Or Invader Zim…I used a line from it, but I don't think its exact, well a couple of lines.

you know the talking key so get over my lack of typing it out.

_**Engaged**_

"Oh God!" Sakura exclaimed waking up in a bed. "HUH?"

She sat bolt right up, she was...in someone's house, but who's?

Gaara comes through the door holding a tray of food. "So your up." he simply states.

"where the hell am I!?" Sakura hells at him.

"Gaara silences her with his hand, "Shut up!"

Sakura lightly pushes his hand off her mouth. "than will you please, tell me where I am?"

Gaara, glad that she didn't yell again, pushed her down back onto the bed, "My room" he says, pining her to his bed with just his arms. One of Sakura's arms escape his grasp and she punches him in the face. She jumps up (still on the bed) and runs at Gaara (now off the bed). Gaara disappears and reappears behind Sakura. Sakura realizes this a little to late and is spun around. Gaara's hold on her shoulders almost enough to make her scream in pain.

Just than the emo bastard Sasuke breaks in through the window. Gaara looks up unfazed, "do you mind?"

"As a matter of fact I DO mind thank you very much!" Sasuke spat at him.

Gaara sighs pulling back away from Sakura, _'Whew! that was close!'_

**'you liked it, and you know it girl!' inner Sakura smirked evilly. 'he's not just hot and a great kisser, but his muscles...' (shivers)**

_'What the hell!? are you crazy!? one he's SO not hot! two, he could kill us at any second, AND I felt that he wasn't using all of his strength to pin me!'_

'**Well it was a pity and a shame that you punched him in the face, I don't think he likes you that much anymore. And just when you were starting to warm up to him too!' inner Sakura chimed happily. **

_'shut up and go to hell...me!...you!...WHATEVER YOU ARE!'_

**'well FINE than!...have FUN'**

Gaara slowly steps towards Sasuke just missing the food that he placed on the floor.

Eyeing him suspiciously, Gaara kicks Sasuke in the groin, Sasuke bends over, on reflex only to disappear into a puff of smoke. A Shadow clone.

Gaara's eyes widen in realization. He spins around on his heels just in time to see Sasuke land a kiss on a confused Sakura.

_**Flashback from Sakura's point of view!**_

Gaara slowly backed away from me, his food just missing the food that he had brought up. He advances towards Sasuke a lust to kill in his eyes. Than at lightning speed he kicks Sasuke in the…well…LOWER area. Only to have Sasuke double over in pain than disappear completely. I suddenly got pushed into the wall, my head forcibly moved away from Gaara and over to where Sasuke waited to kiss her. And that's what he did he shoved his lips onto mine, before I had a chance to scream, in a what was supposed to be a long passionate kiss. (wasn't that passionate and wasn't that long).

_**End of Flashback**_

Sasuke pulls up, sucking in a big breath of air, as if he was doing CPR. only to have Gaara rush forward faster than any movement seen by Sakura before. and he elbows Sasuke right in the stomach, sending him flying into the opposite wall of Gaara's bedroom.

The door fly's open to reveal the new girl in class, Temari.

"What the HELL Gaara!?" she shrieks. She than realizes that not only Gaara was in his room, but Sasuke was smashed into the wall and Sakura hardly standing on the wall opposite of Sasuke looking more confused than Naruto usually does. "Oh I'm so..rry..." she states awkwardly. Sasuke than jumps up from his massive dent in the wall and yells "BUT IF YOU FAIL, THE PUNISHMENT WILL BE MORE HORRIBLE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD (or anywhere else for that matter)!"

Gaara simply states back "The only thing worse than that would be the horrible things that my sister will do to me if this doesn't work."

Temari nods "you got that right"

Sakura leans against the wall a blank expression on her face seeming to say (if you had to pick something for it to say) WTF!?!?!?!?!?

Sasuke then looks straight into Gaara and says, "One serving Three" in the utmost serious voice he could muster. Than jumped out the window.

Temari than walks over to Gaara lifts up her huge fan and whacks him over the head with it. "What the hell do you think you are doing!?" She than walks over to Sakura, who cringes, thinking that she will get whacked over the head too. Temari leans over Sakura and says "I'm so sorry miss, my brother IS A BONEHEAD! and a bit of a psychopath, so please excuse his idiotic ways, but they're no stranger than that creepy spiky-haired dude who was screaming about really bad fates." Temari smiles sweetly at her than picks her up in her arms.

Sakura stares at her in disbelief. "Um...where are you taking me?"

"Why to my room of course, unless you would prefer somewhere else?" Temari questions her.

"No your room will be fine thank you." Sakura than realizes something. "Temari! What time is it!?"

"4:30 why?"

"I missed over half the day at school."

"Well I'm not surprised. Not only did Gaara kiss you but when you fainted you hit your head on the corner of the desk over, knocking you unconscious. I think that Gaara was way too stupid to find the nurses office, so out of lack of a better place to go he brought you here. He acts tough but he's really just a big softy underneath." Temari gives her another one of her warm smiles.

"Thank you" Sakura mutters as she drifts back into sleep.

Temari's smile fades. 'How could Gaara do this to such a sweet person? He would pay, and that damned Uchiha boy who's even encouraging Gaara to continue with this messed up competition.' She lays Sakura down in her bed, smiles one more time at this kind hearted Kunoichi, then disappears to go find that teme Sasuke.

**with Sasuke**

"I...I actually did it. I kissed Sakura-chan!" Sasuke smiled in disbelief. After all these years of ignoring her, refusing her date offers, and even mocking her at times, he kissed her. "Damn it, if it wasn't for Gaara, I would never have done it. I mean, she's flat, ugly, fangirlish (fangirlish is not a word just wanted to clear that up!), and annoying as hell." Sasuke thought he was thinking here (if you catch that).

"Oh, but Sasuke, she's sweet, kind, determined, doesn't give up easily, she's gentle, and I saw that face you were making after you kissed her, your second kiss, was it now? you first kiss was Naruto right? Stick to men, Gaylord." Temari shot at him from the door (she had basically broken into 50 houses before getting Sasuke's right).

"What the hell!? Since when do I have an inner Sasuke!? And...wait a minute, how could you see my face if you my INNER Sasuke!? And...wait...are you telling me I'm Gay!?...HOLEY SHIT! IM GAY!" Sasuke starts to weep at this point, the sudden realization sends him back over to his little emo corner (the darkest corner in the room).

Temari walks over and thwacks him over the head with her fan. "You douche bag! First of all, I'm not the "Inner Sasuke", second of all, yes I am telling you your gay, you are a dirty little gay hoebag! And guess what? Even if you weren't gay, Sakura would still be too good for you, no matter how much she wants to deny it." Temari spits at him.

Sasuke stares up at her with big anime eyes as if to say in the cutest way possible, 'please don't hurt me, I didn't mean to try to molest Sakura-chan even though I'm gay, and despite the fact that I know she's beneath me, and praise's me for everything I'm worth, I still shouldn't have forced a kiss on her.'

Temari catches this and how egotistical, and horrid it "sounds" so she steps closer, the few steps more that she had to take to reach him...again (he had moved), cracking her knuckles evilly. Then she beats him up, I know sucky fight scene, but basically Sasuke was being a baby about everything and Temari just beat him up like there was no tomorrow. Sorry Fan-girls you know who you are.

_**Note:**_ I love your reviews, they inspire me to type, even though I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to type, I do it anyway. So write reviews, but I probably wont be writing a new chapter every day like I'm doing now. Oh and its no longer 3:45 it is now 6:08 in the afternoon, I slept, for a while, than I painted by numbers, but that's not important, what's important is I get this posted today and hopefully another one tomorrow, and if that doesn't tie you over till at least Saturday, you're just gunna have to suck it up princess, HAHAHAHAHAHA! Wow I'm good now, thanks for reading!

_**IMPORTANTNESS!: THIS WAS EDDITED BY NONE OTHER THAN…**_** AnimeFreak4261! SO SEND HER YOUR THANX OR ILL EAT YOU WITH A PLASTIC SPOON IN YOUR SLEEP! SO THANK THE HELL OUT OF HER OR YOU WOULD HAVE A HORRIBLE STORY ON HAND!**


	4. The True Feelings

_**Note:**_ HAHAHA! Thank you so much guys! I though I was gunna get chewed out by you guys! Sorry its more or less getting late, it is a school night so if I am unable to type out more than one chapter I will do my homework on my way to school if I must to get it to you tomorrow! And seeing as though are teachers are stupid we still don't have a schedule, so I don't know when we have LA next so I don't know when I'll get my other story but I will get that to you this week! Can you actually believe that I had to go back to the last chapter of my story to see what the last thing I rote was??? HAHAHA! Wow am I really that stupid (sigh) I guess I really am, anywho…ON WITH THE STORY!

You have probably MEMORIZED the stupid talking key by now so just guess what I'm not doing!

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ I do not own Naruto, Naruto owns me! (gasp!) no he actually doesn't, all he really owns is an orange jumpsuit and a bowl of ramen…sorry he just ate the ramen, so he doesn't even own that anymore, poor little Naruto…

_**Chapter 4! (I know this is very confusing fore you now.) Some very awesome title goes here, HAHA I CANT THINK OF ONE!**_

Temari flashes back to her house, grinning stupidly at all the sense she had just knocked into Sasuke (her tremendous and traumatizing beating). Now it was Gaara's turn, and both her and Gaara knew that if he even attempted to use his sand, well lets just say it would be too violent even for an M rated fanfiction. Gaara sat in his room, cowering, figuring what cruel punishment he would receive from his cruel sister, normally Temari is one violent chick, but when she got angry, all of the bijuu combined couldn't stop her wrath.

(if I didn't spell bijou correctly I'm sorry I had the choices of, bijou bijo biju or bijuu and I couldn't decide.) 

Temari reached Gaara's room in mere seconds. She had crossed the room, now looming over Gaara, and wondering how much it was going to cost to get the broken and crumbling wall of Gaara's room fixed. She sighed. She was going to have to put that aside for now. Temari hoisted Gaara up into an odd looking fireman's lift and carried him downstairs, placing him on the couch in the den. Temari sat down beside Gaara, she sighed heavily, looking at Gaara with her piercing eyes.

"Now Gaara, why must you insist on doing this to all the places we go to?" Temari asked in a motherly kind of way. She needed to find out why he kept on doing this, THEN she would beat him up.

Gaara looked away, unable to look into his sisters 'kind' eyes. Temari wouldn't have this, she made Gaara look at her. "This one is different" he stated simply.

Temari looked stunned, for she had never heard this reaction from Gaara before. He was normal until he started speaking (Gaara had learned to fear Temari when she got mad). "What do you mean Gaara? It's just like the other times, you pick a fight with a strong, emotional young man, who has a crush on someone but doesn't realize this, then you make him seething mad, only to get the girl so freaked out that they leave the village!"

Gaara averted his eyes once again. "…" which Temari knew, meant he was thinking, 'well anything would sound bad if you put it like that.'

"Answer me!" Temari yelled as loud as she dared, without waking Sakura up.

Gaara looked back her. "I really do like this one though."

Temari was taken back. Gaara had finally found someone that he actually liked. Temari was filled with a mix of emotions, 1) she was trying not to burst our laughing not being able to stop till, god knows when. 2) she wanted to hug Gaara tight now so much, cause she was so proud that he had finally found someone, and if he played his cards right, might actually have a future with her. And 3) she wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp for doing this to her! She liked Sakura, and she would be happy if Sakura became her sister (god knows they needed another woman in this house!) but Gaara was being such a bastard about it! The blood from Temari's face drained when she heard footsteps coming up to the door. Kankuro was home.

Gaara turned to the door _'SHIT! Not right now! If Kankuro found Sakura, it would be worse than hell!'_ looking at Temari she nodded. Gaara raced upstairs mouthing a 'thank you' to Temari. He needed to get Sakura out of here. NOW!

The door opened, and Kankuro stepped in, soaked to the bone.

"MAN! It's sure raining hard out there!" Kankuro commented, shaking himself in a  
dog-like way. "Hey Temari, where did Gaara take that girl?"

Temari smiled weakly, she had to make up a lie quick! "Oh, just around" Temari decided to evade the question instead. Kankuro was really good at telling when she lied. 

Kankuro just pelted her with his glare. She wasn't telling him something. He thought for a second, his eyes widened in realization. "Where's Gaara?" he asked, slowly advancing towards Temari.

Temari looked up at him, tears were coming to her eyes. Kankuro saw this, but feared the worst, he threw himself the rest of the way to the couch, staring intently at her. Temari whispered something that sounded a lot like 'Sorry', but before he could ask her what she said, before Kankuro could even blink, Temari hit him over the head with her fan, knocking him un-conscience.

_**Note:**_ This was edited by AnimeFreak4261 (if you haven't caught that already)


	5. A New Sand Sibbling?

Sorry I kept you guys waiting I caught a bit of a cold, so I'm more or less out of commission. But I will write this chapter as promised, sorry I couldn't get it to you last night, I was starting my cold and had to get up early so there when a lot of the time that I was going to spend on it so I'm sorry for not holding that up so far, and I still don't have my other story so that's not up yet, sorry my LA teacher is weird…moving on…again. I read this thing and it was a review shout out so here it goes…

_**PLEASE SEND REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

_**hahaha! **_Fooled you! That's not what a review call out is anywho… ON WITH THE REST OF THE THINGS BEFORE THE STORY!

Just so you know, I don't know who's older, I think it's Temari but AnimeFreak4261 thought it was Kankuro…I guess I should check on the interment. Hopefully I'll find out for the next chapter…HAHA!

That wasn't funny…anywho… No talking key again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto you know the deal…but I do own this cold (damn it! Ill switch! Naruto for the Cold!)

_**THE NO-TITELED WONDER STRIKES AGAIN!**_

"There, that should keep him busy for a while!" decided Temari as she  
dropping Kankuro off in some random area of the forest, bound to a tree with chakra absorbing ropes.

Sakura woke up, her head pounding. She looked around the unfamiliar room. She panicked and started screamed. Then, quickly realizing that she had been brought here by Temari, settled down and covered her mouth. 

Gaara burst into her room, looking like he had just seen a ghost (even though a ghost probably wouldn't be scared of a ghost). "What's the matter!?"

Sakura looked taken back. She would have never suspected that Gaara would EVER be worried about her. "Sorry, I just um…kinda forgot where I was." Sakura looked at her lap which was covered in a blanket. She felt absolutely terrible for making him worry like that. 'Wait!' she thought realizing something, _'Gaara, the Sabaku no Gaara, was worried about HER'_ this freaked her out a bit. She looked up not wanting to see his disappointed face, only to find that their faces were millimeters apart. She blushed furiously when their foreheads touched.

"Well, there you have it." Gaara stated retreating off of her forehead. "You have a fever."

"What! No I…I cant! I just cant!" Sakura protested halfheartedly. She did feel dizzy. 

"Deny it all you like, you still have a fever." Gaara scanned her up and down with his eyes. "Who do you live with?"

"Sure, just say it bluntly!" she shot at him playfully.

"Would you prefer me to beat-around-the-bush?" he asked, frowning again.

"I'm kidding I'm kidding!" she chimed smiling sweetly at him. "My parents are on a year-long mission…why?

Just then they were interrupted by a knocking at the door. "Hey, Gaara! If your harassing Sakura, your in BIG trouble." Temari's voice threatened.

"Oh shit!" Gaara whispered looking for a place to hide but then realized something. "Hey Temari!" 

"Gaara! I'm gunna give you a pounding you'll never forget!" Temari spat. You could almost hear in her voice that her eyes had widened.

"Just wait a second would ya?!" Gaara shot back. _'She is so going to kill me next chance she gets.'_

"What is it Gaara?" She asked as if testing the waters of his patience.

"Sakura has a fever and her parents aren't home, can she stay with us?" Gaara asked her, still blocked between the wood of the door. He put a funny emphasis on the word Sakura, and glanced over at her, as if to get her approval.

Temari burst through the door, worry written all over her face. "SAKURA! Oh sweety are you OK!?"

Sakura's eyes widened as Temari leapt at her, embracing her in a hug. "It's OK Temari-san, it's not like I've never gotten a fever before." She explained, coming hand in hand with her slight attempt to push Temari off of her.

"OH! Just call me Temari!" she exclaimed pulling back to look at her, her arms still linked together behind Sakura's neck. "I'll go make you some hot tea and soup!" and with that Temari bounded out of the room, stomping over the door that she had broke down when she stormed in. "OH!" Temari's head popped back into the room. "You're welcome to stay with us as long as you want to!" she disappeared again, this time flashing a warning glance at Gaara before leaving.

"Looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." Gaara whispered leaning in close. He nipped playfully at her ear again, then backed up at the sound of a horrified gasp that came from Sakura.

_'I'll take precautions later.'_ thought Sakura, as she drifted into a deep sleep. The last thing she saw was Gaara being forced to fall to the ground by a surprise attack by Temari's huge fan, a horrified look on his face.


	6. And The Heat Rises

OK! This chapter is going to be longer than my last ones! And if its not ill post 2! YOSH!

Oh and Gaara is OOC if you haven't figured that out yet.

Disclaimer: I dont own Naruto!

Wow…that sucks!

_**No Title! You Should Use Your IMAGINATION!…Scary!**_

_**With Temari!**_

Temari sat in the living room, curled under her comforter holding a steaming sup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. She sighed and closed her eyes. _'why cant I belong to a normal family?'_ she thought as the memories of her knocking out her two brothers with her fan flashed before her mind. _'Damn that fan is useful!' _

a resounding _**THUMP!**_ Echoed throughout the house. Shaking everything, including the steaming brown liquid in front of Temari. 

Temari sighed and took a final sip of her delectable chocolate liquid, then set it on the coffee table. She pushed the blankets away from her and staggered to the kitchen. Her legs had fallen asleep. _'perfect just perfect'_ she grabbed the Advil from the counter and clung to it for dear life as she made her way to the stares. By the time she was at the top, she could stand up properly and walk normally again. _Thank Kami-sama!'_ was all she thought as she reached the guest room door. She opened it to find Sakura face down, sprawled across the floor just before her bed.

_**With Sakura!**_

Sakura opened her eyes and sat up. Only to wince in pain and clutch her head falling back onto her pillow. She glanced over at the clock: 2:43 in the morning. Sighing Sakura rolled over to face the window. It was entirely black outside. Sakura sighed again thinking that she would have to get up eventually. So she swung her legs over the side of her bed, pushing the covers off of her in on swift motion. She stood up a little woozy, still holding her head. She felt like she was about to fall, so she out stretched her free arm to steady herself. She shoved her right leg stiffly forwards. But her knees collapsed together and she crashed to the floor. She made a resounding _**THUMP**_ that echoed through the entire house. Only one step away from her bed, un conscience, just in time for Temari to burst in, eyes wide, and rush over to her worried.

_**With Gaara!**_

Gaara slowly opened his eyes. Damn! Was his head throbbing. Temari's fan really did pack a punch. He felt sorry for Kankuro, he was hit with her fan almost every week. Gaara shuddered from the thought. He sighed, at least she had the decency of putting him back into his own bed.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position. He wondered if Temari had picked up some Advil, that would make his day. So He swung himself out of bed and looked in the mirror. Temari had left a nasty bruise. He looked at the clock, 2:30. It wasn't that late Temari was still up. It was safe to take a shower. So he went and took a shower, 15 minuets later he got out and dried himself off, his hair still pretty wet. He got changed into some pants, not bothering with a shirt, after all this was his house…well Temari's house (she was the head of the house, the top dog, she wore the pants in the family). His hair was more or less plastered onto his head, still kind of spiky.

He went into the kitchen and looked all over. There he found a receipt that had Advil-$3:50 (I dont know the price for Advil so suck it up!). So she DID buy Advil. He looked in all the cabinets and drawers that didn't hold cutlery or dishes. Finding none he made his way to the living room, that's where Temari spent most of her time, drinking hot chocolate. He peered around the corner, there was a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate that had gone cold. He looked at the clock 3:00. She was probably up checking on Sakura. His eyes widened he had completely forgotten that she was here! He dashed up the stairs to the guest room where Temari had put her. He was about to wrench the door open, but found out that it was already open, a little bottle of Advil just on the inside of the door frame.

He looked up. There was Temari fawning over Sakura that she had just moved back into bed. Gaara's blood ran cold. _'what happened?' _was what he thought. He took a step into the room, only to have Temari whip her head around. She glared at him like Sakura was in his condition because of him. Well she sort of was. But still!

Gaara turned around and darted to the bathroom. He fumbled with opening the cabinet. But he searched through it, tossing aside random objects that girls found necessary to keep. Temari was going to kill him for throwing them all over the room. But he found the thermometer and dashed back out and into Sakura's room. He pushed the thermometer into Temari's hands and took a step back, crossing his arms over his bare chest. His face looked unemotional, but you would have to know him to see that it was really wracked with guilt and worry.

Temari understood what he wanted and shoved the thermometer into Sakura's mouth, masking sure that it rested under her tongue. Gaara moved over against a wall by her bed, and just stayed there monitoring Sakura's breathing. It was becoming a little labored. She should be taken to a hospital. But they had no idea where the hospital even was. The only places that they had visited was the Hokage tower, their house, and the Academy.

Less than a minuet later, Temari plucked the thermometer from Sakura's mouth and looked at it. She cast a worried glance over at Sakura then Gaara.

"Her temper…" her voice cracked. So she cleared her throat and started again. "Her temperature is 106."

Gaara's face went white. This is only the second time that he new someone who had a fever, and the hospital hadn't let him know what was happening with them. Gaara had later seeped into the hospital and found out that He had died. He now thought that all fevers were fatal. And the way Sakura's was looking, hers could be.

Gaara wanted to run around Konoha and search for the hospital, but Gaara hated hospitals and the people that worked in them. They all beat around the bush, and never told you what you wanted to hear.

"Gaara! Go find the hospital!" Temari demanded. "She's gunna need one! I've never had to deal with a fever myself or with you OR Kankuro!"

Gaara nodded his head than vanished with a wisp of sand.

Unknown to him and Temari Sakura had woken up again.

Temari turned back to Sakura. "This is probably all my fault. I'm sorry Sakura."

"It's all right. Its not your fault. I've been feeling sick, but I've not let anyone know, and I've even pretended to be healthy so that I can continue with my school work. The truth is I'm not the best ninja and I need as much time at school as possible. I dont want to drag my team down, when I get one that is."

Temari nodded, she new exactly how that felt. "When you get better, how's about I train you? I've had some pretty intense training. Not even my brothers know this. So hoe's about I train you when you feel better? Than you can go back and whip everyone's ass!"

Sakura smiled "Thanks Temari. I'd like that a lo…" and she drifted off into a un conscience-like sleep.

Temari's eyes grew wide, and she ran down to the kitchen to make some herbal tea to help Sakura with her fever. Hoping that it'll help.

In the mean time, Gaara was outside searching for the hospital, when it started to rain. "Great. Now even the sky hates me!" Gaara moaned out loud. _'and I'm even trying to do something nice for someone!'_

_**Note: **_ There's this one girl who wont stop bugging me. She's "flaming" me for things like not capitalizing the letter I! All because I informed her that yes, in fact, Sasuke's hair looks like a chickens ass. So please tell her that she is being unreasonable just because she's a Sasuke fan girl. She is telling me that she wont stop critisizing everything I do on fanfiction until I apologize for my opinion. So please help me ward off this evil spirit of doom. Her thing is SpacePirateGirl. Please help me out. She's not only trashing me but you guys for reading my stories.


	7. In The Hospital

Note: me and SpacePirateChick have worked things out. There is peace in fanfiction once again!

I promise this one is longer then even the last one!

Disclaimer: No Naruto owner here!

Sakura woke up the next day, covered in plain white sheets. They weren't the same hues from last night. She looked around to see that the bed was up against the wall. The foot of her bed was blocked with a curtain, that was the same creamy white color as the sheets on her bed. Sakura rolled over to her right side to face the side that wasn't blocked by a wall. There was a night stand and a chair. The night stand held nothing but a glass of water and a lamp. The chair, however, was not as boring, for in it sat Temari.

Sakura sat up and brushed the clean sheets from her lap, and swung her legs over the side of the bed in one swift motion. She leaned in closer to Temari to see if she was awake or not, for Sakura's head was filled with a misty fog, that just refused to clear, so she wasn't sure.

Sakura stretched as she stood up from the bed. Swaying slightly, but enough to force her arms out to the side of her body to steady herself. She looked back at Temari to see if she had notice, but instead Temari's head was lulled forward and to her right. Her breathing was steady, unlike when she was awake, when it was choppy like she was having trouble with it. Definitely asleep. So carefully, as not to wake up her new friend, and lazily, cause she still felt groggy, Sakura crept over to the bathroom.

She entered the dull bathroom only to notice a package in brown paper with her name neatly printed, in black ink, on the top of the package. So she decided to open it, only to find a set of what looked like new clothes with a neatly folded note on top. She carefully picked up the note and unfolded it, noticing that all the creases were perfect, not a line out of place, and that there were no unnecessary marks.

_**Hey Sakura!  
If you're reading this you are obviously awake and in the bathroom. That is where you found this right? Cause if its not than I will**__…_in this sentence Sakura noticed the cursive letters that seemed to get jagged and deep…_**never mind, just never mind. Sorry about that…but here's a new outfit for you! I tried to get into your house, but you seal that thing up tight. Damn! You really are a great ninja aren't you?…**_Sakura blushed at this statement, no one had ever said that to her. They always told her that she needed more training or that she wasn't good enough. She pushed this thought out of her mind and continued reading…_**I was thinking of just giving you an old outfit of mine that might have fit you, but decided that it just wasn't your style. So I ran to the store and got you this! Hope you like it. I'll see you soon.  
Your new friend, Temari**___

Sakura smiled at the note…her new friend. In the 20 minutes it took her to have a shower, brush her teeth, and wash her face, she never stopped smiling. She was about to leave the bathroom in a fluffy white bathrobe, she had found on the door in the bathroom, when she remembered the package of clothes that Temari had bought for her. She took her hand off the door knob and walked back over to the sink where she had placed the package 20 minutes earlier. As she took them out she noticed that they were actually a lot cuter than her other outfit, and made a mental note to ask Temari where she got them later.

Sakura turned around and lightly closed the door after she left the bathroom, after all she didn't want to wake Temari up. She was carrying the brown wrapping but it now held her old clothes instead of her new ones. She turned around again, facing the room, and soaked in her surroundings. There were 6 beds, including her own, all equipped with their own night stand and visitor chair. The only chair occupied was her own, Temari still being asleep by her bed, and beside her the night stand still sat there, glass of water and lamp still untouched. Her eyes wandered form hospital bed to hospital bed. _'So that's where I am.'_ Sakura thought her eyes widened as she realized the only reason why there would be six beds in a room with visitor chairs. _'the hospital' _She then noticed that there was another bed, besides hers, that was occupied.

She made her way over to the bed that rested behind Temari's sleeping back. She bent down and peered over at the occupants face. It was Gaara's. Sakura placed the package containing her clothes and the note on his night stand. She leaned in closer to study his face, her head still wasn't cleared completely of the fog, but it wasn't as bad as when she first woke up. Gaara's face was paler than normal, paler than the sheets that curved around him, making every part of him distinguished, and noticeable. His red hair was tossed around, roughly coming in at odd angles to cover his face with them.

"He caught a fever last night while searching for the hospital." Temari's voice explained from the other side of the bed. Causing Sakura to stand up very straight and look at Temari, who was studying Gaara intently. Sakura wondered how long she had been awake for, blushing at the thought of Temari watching her get into close quarters with her brother. But Temari didn't seem to notice, or just didn't really care for she continued on. "He can be such an idiot sometimes. I mean he had just got out of the shower, he didn't even bother to put a shirt on!" and as if to emphasize her point, or to prove that he had actually been reckless enough to do this, she ripped the sheets away from Gaara's sleeping form, revealing all the well formed muscles that were present on his arms and torso. Sakura's blush deepened. Gaara was much better looking then any guy she knew, from the leaf or otherwise. He looked more mature, there was that air around him that made him seem older, as if he was 15 and not 12. And despite the sweat that ran down his face, he shivered, causing Sakura's heart to leap in her chest. _'damn it!'_ She thought as she fought the urge to wrench the sheets back over Gaara's quivering form. Temari just ignored her further and continued with what she was saying.

"…rained after he left! I swear if he pulls another stunt like…" But Sakura tuned out everything after this point and slipped her attention back to Gaara.

'_he looks so…'_

'_**perfect?'**_ inner Sakura supplied.

'_Holy shit! When did you get here?' _Sakura asked, embarrassed that her personal conversation had been overheard. Even if it was by another, more vicious, version of herself.

'_**I've been here since before you woke up. You were just to groggy to notice' **_ Inner Sakura shrugged and continued before Sakura could yell at her. _**'I bet Gaara will like your new outfit' **_She chimed while flashing a sadistic smile.

Sakura attempted to fight down the blush that attempted to deepen further, but failed. She pushed that thought out of her head and examined her new outfit. She was wearing a fishnet top underneath a black, sleeveless, shirt with a cherry blossom print and made it look like pink cherry blossoms were being blown to the right. She wore black biker shorts that sat mid-thigh underneath a red skits with two high slits up the side. It sported a pink ribbon that trailed the hem.

'_**see!'**_ inner Sakura continued, unable to hold her enthusiasm. _**'I'm positive that he'll think it's hot!'**_

'_Cha! Why would I want him to think that?' Sakura asked her inner-self disgusted. _

'_**well let me think…maybe cause he's hot, stole your first kiss, and you **__**are**__** blushing at this conversation.' **_Inner Sakura finished her list, smiling maniacally at, who-knows-what, thoughts that were resounding in her mind inside of Sakura's (if you caught all that).

'_Hey! I do no…' _Sakura trailed off as she felt inner Sakura's presence fading away quickly, having thrown her two sense in.

"So how, 'bout it?" Temari asked her while putting her hands on Sakura's shoulders, spinning Sakura to face the opposite direction.

"I'm really sorry Temari, can you repeat that?" Sakura apologized, feeling guilty about not paying attention to what had been the majority of their conversation.

Temari frowned, but as she studied the younger ninja, her frown quickly turned into a wolfish grin. "You like him." Temari elaborated, to Sakura's confused face.

"What!?" Sakura was flushed and quickly shook her head, hoping that she could prevent Temari from seeing her already blushing face, turn into a beet red.

But Temari had noticed, and her smile grew wider, and almost looked manic. And it was than that she had taken it upon herself to get both Gaara and Sakura together.

"well, I'd best be going now, Kankuro's probably broken out of his binds, and should be pretty furious right about now." Temari chuckled slightly to herself. "And dont worry, Gaara'll love the clothes." She winked and then bounded excitedly out of the room, leaving a blushing and stunned Sakura, alone to take care of Gaara.

Sakura sighed and made her way over to the window that wasn't even 5 steps away. Her mind was consumed of the calm, peaceful aura that hovered around Gaara's sleeping form. It just didn't suit him. Her looked to ready to jump up and attack you at any moment. She climbed up onto the thick windowsill, sitting down with her knee's hugged tightly to her chest with her arms. She leaned to the right, half her body weight now going through her knee, cheek, and upper right arm, and landing onto the cool windows glass.

Sakura shut her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She held it for a second, than let it out, opening her eyes just in time to see the steam dissipate from the glass altogether. She plucked her steadily growing cheek from the glass, and turned her head to study the outside world. It was so close, but so far away, close enough to reach, but trapped behind a virtually invisible force field.

"So it really did rain." Sakura commented to herself, not thinking anyone was around to hear her (well Gaara was asleep so he didn't count). She was so consumed by the wet world outside her reach, forced onto the other side of the window.

"Still is" a rough voice told her back, only inches from her left ear.

Sakura would have whipped her head around to find out who was speaking to her right then, if not for the fact that that she was now being pushed closer to the window by hard, soft, warm flesh. And as her heart rate quickened, two bare arms wrapped around her triceps and hooked together just underneath her right shoulder. She shifted her body around as much as she could to see her holder, but it was virtually impossible under the forced weight of the other human body. She was able to turn her head just enough to get a face full of scraggly, spiky, red hair. Her heartbeat slowed a bit as she realized now what she failed to only a few seconds ago; Gaara had woken up.

Gaara felt her struggle under his embrace. _'please dont leave me'_ was what ran through Gaara's mind.

'_**what's wrong Gaara?' **_Shukaku asked.

'_She's going to leave me. I just know it. Just like everybody else has.' _ Gaara answered as best as he could, but he knew that no matter how lame or confusing of an explanation he gave, Shukaku would understand.

'_**Yea I know what you're thinking about how she'll leave you like everyone else did. But you're wrong. I mean, Sakura isn't just what she appears to be. She's actually a lot like us.'**_ Shukaku informed Gaara knowingly.

'_What do you mean Shukaku?'_ Gaara asked startled by this sudden news.

'_**I mean she wouldn't just leave you because of me. she has…a double spirit lets say. You know that blond chick? Ino I think. She's seen Sakura's second spirit. Like I said; she's a lot like us. So try to treat her better…like you do Naruto, but less rough…or more rough…depending on the situation.'**_ Shukaku informed him cheekily. Then his presence started to fade.

'_Shukaku! How do you…'_ Gaara started, hoping to be told to continue with his question. But none came, for Shukaku had already disappeared into the abyss.

When Gaara came back to reality from his inner confrontation, he noticed that Sakura's small form was shaking vigorously. But he couldn't tell if it was from the cold, seeping in from the window, or fear of what he could do to her.

Gaara sighed and pulled away from her. He dragged his hand across her left cheek, resting it there for only a second. Sakura's eyes were shut tightly, and she winced when he touched her. She even seemed not to breath until she was sure he wasn't going to give her any more sudden contact.

Sakura noticed this after a few seconds, and released her held breath with much appreciation. She was also about to open her eyes, when something not quite heavy, but not exactly soft wither, fell over top of her, not leaving even one fold of cloth to be seen. She couldn't figure out what It was. Try as she might, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Metaphorically speaking of course. So cautiously, she opened her eyes, only to come across an endless field of white. Her shoulders sagged back in relaxation, it was only a blanket.

Sakura pushed the blanket behind her head, grabbed the two closest corners of the blanket and heaved them together at the top of her chest. She stretched her legs over the edge of the window sill and gracefully slid off, landing with almost no sound whatsoever, on her feet, the blanket flowing like an angelic cape behind her.

Gaara was back to lying down on his bed, shivering from cold, his back towards her.

'_Baka'_ she thought as she made her way over to his bed and slip the blanket over his shaking shoulders. But she slipped while she was finishing, and fell right on top of the bed. This caused Gaara to turn, as hard as it was to turn being partially under a smaller, lighter, female ninja, who was trying to get up with no further contact.

Gaara just smirked and cocked an eyebrow, as he grasped one of Sakura's shaking wrist with his hand and pulled roughly towards himself, Causing the pink haired ninja to collapse once again, onto the bed. But Gaara didn't stop there, no he wrapped his arms securely around her triceps again, and clasped his hands behind her shoulder blades. Then he thrust his arms closer to him, causing Sakura to move forward and come as close to Gaara as humanly possible. Sakura blushed as she realized that Gaara didn't have the blanket over him, so she was crashed up against his bare chest. She slightly shifted under Gaara's arms and took a deep breath, to either calm herself down or to say something, Gaara couldn't tell. _'Damn why do women have to be so complicated?' _was what Gaara thought as he continued to lay there, waiting.

"it _**isn't **_raining." Sakura stated simply, pulling away from a stunned Gaara to lie on his right side, where the now cold blanket was heaped up into a pile.

Gaara sat bolt right up. Starring at Sakura intently, with disbelief. But the pink haired female just lay there motionless, her back towards Gaara. She showed no signs of moving whatsoever, she also didn't indicate talking anytime soon. So he grabbed bundles of blanket into his fists and whipped it out from Sakura who rolled over, nearly falling off the bed. Nearly. She stopped herself before that happened, but kept her back towards Gaara, not moving from her new found position.

Gaara threw the blanket to the cool floor below, only to have Sakura heave a huge sigh at him. She brought her slightly bent knees up to her chin, and stayed like that…legs half off the small bed. Other than this she lay motionless again. The only indication that she was still alive was the steady up and down movements that her chest was making, hardly visible from where Gaara sat now.

Gaara exhaled loudly as he narrowed his eyes at Sakura, who still hadn't made a single movement. "it is to raining." He growled. Gaara absolutely hated trivial arguments like these. He knew for a fact that he was right. And it annoyed him to know end to see that she didn't believe him.

"you're wrong." She replied flipping her hair away from her face.

Gaara wanted to end this trivial argument right now. After all he positively HATED things like these. So that's what Gaara set his mind out to do, stop this insane argument. Gaara outstretched his right hand towards Sakura again, and lightly grasped her small shoulder in his big hand. He pulled it down towards the bed, causing Sakura to roll towards him landing on her back, away from the edge of the bed. Sakura uncurled her legs a bit, still leaving them bent except her feet were planted on its firm surface. She opened her eyes that had apparently been closed at starred up at Gaara with a _why-the-hell-are-you-disturbing-me?_ kind of look.

Gaara grimaced, sensing that she was being slightly playful but also slightly pissed off, he just couldn't understand women. So he just ignored it and professionally swept Sakura up bridal style. Which was an entirely new concept for her, ultimately freaking her out, causing her to fling her arms up around Gaara's neck and pull herself as close to his bare chest as humanly possible. And together they disappeared in a wisp of orange-y yellow sand.

(I was gunna end it here, but damn you guys are lucky)

Sakura opened her eyes as not only one drop of water fell on top of her fragile body, but hundreds upon thousands did.

"Told you." Gaara smirked while leaning in to Sakura's left ear and nipping it slightly.

Sakura just huffed at him, pulling her arms back away from the red heads neck and crossing them dramatically over her chest. Gaara pulled his head back and grinned in amusement.

"I'm putting you down now." Gaara warned mere seconds before dropping his hands away from her now sopping wet from the rain water.

Sakura felt his arms slip away from her, so she threw all her body weight forwards, and surprisingly landed on her feet, although she did waver slightly. She quickly composed herself, straightening herself up and pulled her skirt down a little lower.

"I _told_ you its **not** raining…"Sakura called to Gaara who opened his mouth to protest as she bounded away from him, first twirling on one foot, then another. What Gaara found strange was that she kept her arms horizontally outstretched from her body as every inch of her got drenched in the cool rain water.

Sakura quickly continued talking before he could say anything though. "It's POURING!" Gaara closed his mouth. He was going to inform this psychotic konuichi, that when water fell from the sky it meant that it was in fact raining. But de decided that it would be better if he just kept his mouth shut.

Sakura giggled maniacally at her last statement as she skipped, hopped, and bounded around the huge puddles that were forming on the already blackened ground. (blackened from water not being burnt). She smiled brightly at Gaara, who was genuinely smiling at the stupidity of the girl in front of him.

She then reeled around, so that she was no longer facing Gaara or the hospital, but instead the deserted street in front of her. Curiously Gaara strode up to her, and stood directly to her left, so close that if one person so much as shrugged that there arms would rub against each other.

"It looks like a ghost town." Sakura awed before her eyes started to swell with tears, that she was holding back with all her might.

Gaara raised his eyes to the street that lay before them. It was true Konoha did in fact look like a ghost town with the ominous storm cloud hovering just over head. Rain from its enormous underbelly flopped onto the village bellow, causing all of the living beings that it contained to hide, taking cover in their homes that were shamelessly being pelted with rain. It was almost that they feared being rained upon, for if they were than they would be thrust into a life filled with bloodthirsty, unrelenting pain, from which they would never escape from. Their spirits along with the rest of the town, seemed to be blackened, darkened to despair. The only two souls that seemed unaffected by the rain, were Sakura and Gaara, and now Sakura too was being sucked into the downwards spiral.

Gaara turned his eyes to Sakura, unable to see her face, for her head was bent towards the ground, causing her long pink hair to slide and cover the angelic features of her face. Her entire body was wracked with unrelenting sobs, that came to her in waves of pain and anguish. As Gaara watched this, noting every tear that fell to the already saturated ground, he felt a stab of guilt in his chest. he felt that he had brought this upon her, and he never wanted to do anything to bring this much suffering to her.

Sakura felt cold skin slide across her shoulders and pull her closer to its original source. She was to weak to resist so instead she turned her bogy towards the one beside her and cried heavily into it.

There they stood, soaking in the rain and each others depression and guilt. After about a minute they broke apart. Sakura wiping the remainder of her tears off her cheeks onto the back of her already wet hands. She then breathed out a few shaky breaths composing herself once again before looking up at Gaara's steady form.

"Thank you, Gaara-kun.'" She told him, then smiled one of her genuine that she only saved for the most special of occasions. Sure she smiled a lot, smiled true smiles a lot, but none like this one. This one was special and could lighten up even the most difficult of situations or awaken even the most unemotional peoples emotions. Gaara gave her another one of his smiles, this one she caught it though and her face changed to one of confusion that Gaara just couldn't help but laugh a little at. Truth be told, Gaara thought it felt great to smile, and to laugh, but would ultimately deny it if anyone had bothered to ask him about it.

"lets go back" Gaara suggested while pulling Sakura in close to him and kissing her on her forehead, the one part of her that she felt the most self conscience about.

Sakura nodded and blushed slightly as she clasped her hands together around his waist, just so she was sure not to be left behind. Then they disappeared in a swirl of sand, leaving not a trace of their time spent outside.

Little did they know, Temari was watching the entire thing from in a nearby tree.

Sorry that this chapter was running so late, just every time I go to type it I get hyper I dont know why. But anywho aren't you so glad that there was fluff in this one. Haha and I bet that no one can guess where they end up. So here's a little competition…where did Sakura and Gaara disappear too? Tell me in reviews! I do love reviews and tend to update more if I get more reviews. So please wont you review??? Its for both you're benefit and mine. So please read and review and wait for the next chapter please. And dont forget the contest! Ja Ne! 

-WAC


	8. The Cat

Disclaimer- Don't own Naruto

Disclaimer- Don't own Naruto...duh.

Chapter title- Meow. What the hells up with this cat?

A/N: This idea's from my friend, only her version sucked more. Praise me for making it awesome XD Jk Jk. 

Temari curled up into her blanket and stared intently at the black screen on the T.V. as if hoping all her answers would jump out of it and reveal the whereabouts of Sakura and Gaara. She had gone home after they left, relieved that everything was going alright with them. But soon after, when she went to the hospital, they were no longer there. She had searched around Konoha frantically and even considered running back to Suna just in case. After realizing that that was moronic, she decided to go home and wait. And here she sat, still waiting for her younger brother and new best friend to return.

"Temari-chan!" Sakura's voice called out in her head. "Look what we found!"

Temari sighed, how the hell did it feel like her ears were going to bleed when the voice was in her head? Than realization dawned on her as she watched a dripping pink blur race into living room and trip over an upturned edge of the carpet. Temari watched as said pink blob sat on her knees and held out a black mob of fur in her direction. "Look Tema!"

Temari had no idea what Sakura was on about but as the black mass mewled at her she understood. It was a cat. A cat with obsidian eyes that practically blended into its matted fur.

"Cute!" She squealed before throwing off her blanket and snatching the cat from the pink haired ninja, the cat only meowing once in protest.

Sakura and Temari kept fawning over the cat, completely ignoring Gaara who was leaning in an aloof matter on the wall watching them. Yes, Gaara was positive that he would never understand girls. Not only that, but Sakura apparently had an odd obsession with 'cute' animals.

_Flashback_

_"Gaara-chan! Oh look Gaara-chan!" Sakura chimed as she pointed to a small black lump of fur making its way down the street in the rain. "It's such a cute kitty!"_

_Gaara looked at the cat and noticed that it wasn't hiding out of the rain or anything, but it seemed to have a specific destination in mind and no matter what kind of weather it was in it was going to get there. "Uh, Sakura I don't think we should..."_

_But Sakura ignored him and ran to the cat. She scooped it up with no protest from the animal, and walked back over to where Gaara was. "Awe! Can we keep him!? Please, please, please, please, please?" Sakura pleaded, holding the cat up so that Gaara could see just how 'cute' he actually was. _

_Gaara's eye twitched, the cat seemed to be glaring at him. The _**_cat_**_. Cats don't glare. Gaara ignored the cat and nodded his head towards Sakura. The pink haired girl squealed in delight and pulled Gaara and the cat into an awkward hug. Gaara was positive that he would never understand girls. Sighing in defeat Gaara dragged Sakura back to the sand sibling's house, pulling her away from anything else 'cute' that they came across._

_End Flashback_

Sakura and Temari were making their way into the kitchen to fetch the cat some milk to drink, Temari cooing at the cat lying in her arms, when Sakura suddenly collapsed.

"Sakura!" Temari shrieked as she was about to his the hard floor. But Gaara's sand caught her only a few centimeters before contact.

"I think she should sleep for now." was all he said before making his sand bring him Sakura's limp body. He dismissed the sand into his gourd and carried said kunoichi bridal style up the stairs and into the guest bedroom. He laid her body on the cold sheets, covered her in a blanket than kissed her on the temple. "Get well soon, blossom."

Gaara turned on his heel and was bout to leave when he saw a black animal dart across the room and prepare itself to jump up on Sakura's bed. _Stupid cat._ Gaara thought before removing the feline from the room and shutting the door so that it couldn't enter. "No. Sakura needs her sleep, and like hell am I going to let you in there." The red head crossed his arms over his chest as if to emphasize his point.

The cat glared at him with his obsidian colored eyes before turning his back on him and marching down the stairs to where Gaara assumed Temari was still settled. He sighed. There was something fishy about that cat, and he was determined to find out what. After all, no cat could understand the human language like it did.

Gaara uncrossed his arms and decided to forget about the cat for now. A nice hot shower should sooth his aching muscles and after that he was going to sleep cause good god did he ever need it.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys (dodges rotten fruit). AnimeFreak4261 is still my beta reader, ain't she great? She's been posting my Awaken Me From My Day Dream story too. Hope she doesn't hate me for it XD. Love you in a sisterly type fashion Ani! Ya'll know I love Reviews right? Meh, review if you're still reading I'd love to hear from you.

For lack of ideas this story is now going on hold. It will not be discontinued, but since I can't think of anything more to put, this will be it. Until my next chapter rolls around, good bye. If you have any ideas feel free to send them and try to get my imagination train rolling. Sorry again and Ja Ne for now. bows to readers

-WAC


	9. House Not a Home

Sand Cherry 9

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto!

* * *

Gaara fished an apple from the crisper, shutting the door as quickly as possible due to the blinding light coming from the cooling appliance. He felt a presence behind him; it held a familiar chakra tat he couldn't quite place at the moment. Sand shifted at the ready in his gourd as he spun around to face his opponent.

His weapon settled as he picked up the fallen fruit from the ground after assessing the being that had decided to disrupt his late-night wandering. The red head matched glares with the feline who had stealthily padded into the room. It growled. He growled back.

"Stay away from me and you can continue to live, cat." He told the smug animal who simply yawned in response before leaving for a place to spend the rest of the night. It was than that Gaara came to his senses and realized that he was having a territory spat with an animal. Sighing he resigned to his room to spend the remainder of the dark in solitude.

* * *

It had been two weeks since the cat had come to stay with them, two weeks since Gaara had escaped from the hospital and two weeks that Sasuke hadn't bothered to show up to school. 14 days. Half of which the sand wielder had spent putting his suspicions together about the stray cat they had so kindly "adopted".

"Gaara!" A familiar female voice called out to him, accompanied by thrice as many pairs of footsteps. "Wanna get some ice cream with us after school?"

He moved his head in the negative; he hated crowds. His shake was met by a pout and pleading eyes from the pink haired girl who was now tailing him with her friends. He tore his gaze away from her face and motioned by before departing from the embarrassment and temptation that continuously bit at his heels despite being dismissed.

"Gaara?" Sakura asked when he stopped under a tree that shared her name.

"Don't follow me; you'll only get in the way." In a swirl of sand the demon holder was gone, leaving a hurt and confused kunoichi n his wake.

* * *

The next day Sasuke came back to school. He looked a little leaner and the scowl on his face was darker than anyone remembered it being, but it was him. Even if he did way less than before.

The girls from hi old club continued to fawn over him at a distance of no less than 5 meters and left presents meat for renewing the Uchiha's subtle happiness on his desk hat were burned with a slight fire jutsu. A ritual that soon stopped altogether.

Sasuke detached himself so entirely from everyone that the teachers wouldn't even ask him to answer questions, not that he would answer if they so chose to. He even stopped his petty competitions and arguments with Naruto. No one could get through to him anymore.

A week passed since Sasuke's reappearance and Gaara's disappearance, a week of failed attempts to make contact with both boys.

"Sakura!"

"Huh?" The pink haired girl snapped out of her trance only to notice the close proximity of her best friend. "Gwah! Ino!"

The blonde stared intently at her best friend, "Stop being so depressed! I'm taking you out after school to cheer you up!"

The stunned kunoichi noted the smug tone in her friend's voice and simply gave her a small smile before caving, "Alright, alright."

Ino pumped her fist in the air and dragged her best friend back to the classroom where they would wait impatiently for the end of school to come.

* * *

"Ino…" they stood, starring at the house in front of them. The lights in the establishment were all off yet it still had a home-like feeling for the green eyed female. She hadn't been near the house in a long time, but it was still as easy to recognize as if she had been there yesterday. "Why are we at Gaara's house?"

"We're checking up on him. Now go for it girl! Show him what a girl in love is really like!"

The cheesy encouragement went unheeded as Sakura could hear nothing but the pounding of her own heart as she staggered towards the doorway. The door felt hollow against her fist, as hollow as the silence that followed it. It dragged on, the uncomfortably thick air and Sakura dreaded to make it end. The pure and pungent space that sat around the building an ominous feeling keeping hostage any pleasant feelings the house used to offer. The kunoichi stood there, knowing that she would have to enter, but fighting it with everything she had. Walking into that house was the last thing that she wanted to do right now for she feared that if she did and disrupted the eerie feeling that engulfed the house then reality would crash down around her and tear out her soul.

"Maybe you should ring the door bell." She jumped. Sakura had been so focused on the threatening silence that she hadn't noticed her friend approach.

With a regretful tug in her stomach the green eyed shinobi pressed the button and heard nothing more than the chiming sound reverberate through the house and back.

Tears prickled at the back of her eyes and her vision blurred. Adrenalin propelled her foot forward, kicking the door in, nothing. No movement, no noise, simply silence. Sakura frantically stormed through the house, bypassing the empty rooms and going straight to the bedroom at the end of the hall on the second floor.

"Gaara. Gaara!" A second door was brought to its knees as the kunoichi tore about the barren room, vainly searching for the man whose name had become her mantra and finding nothing. "GAARA!"

Sakura collapsed to the dusty floor, sobbing and constantly whispering the name of the man she had fallen in love with.

Chapter End

* * *

A/N: Sorry for not updating. I don't particularly enjoy this pairing as much as I did, so I've come up with an ending that satisfies more than one person's needs and I'm finishing this story! At least I'm ending it, so even if you wanna rip out my entrails and feed me to…some demon thing, remember that I could leave you hanging and never finish it due to my change in preferences.

…Sorry that kinda sounds like a threat or whatever…it's not supposed to be. Either way…again I'm sorry, there'll only be a couple more chapters of this story and I hope you enjoy the ending despite the fact that it's probably not what you were expecting or hoping for.

Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter!

-WAC

(Chapter has not seen my beta AnimeFreak4261 before being posted, although she does still beta my others!)


	10. Chapter 10

My apologies for my ridiculous absence.

I would like to inform you all that I am not dead, WILL be finishing this story and that it will take some time. I also may be rewriting the entire thing if I must due to the drastic style change I have undergone. Also, it seems that my muse is campaigning for a raise that I am too pour to give it and am thus stuck in this rut where all I can seem to flush out is some re-done RP I have with AnimeFreak4261. Dear lord help me.

I beg of you to wait awhile longer as I kick myself into completing all that I have started.

I have sworn this to be a year of productivity! I have made quite a lot of promises recently and have only started on a few, completing none. This shall all change though and by the beginning of next summer, I expect to - at least - have this story rewritten, finished, or updated a decent amount of time.

For all who are still with my I thank you ever-so-much for your patience, understanding and kindness. OTL I am forever in your debt.

~WAC


	11. Chapter 11

The Sand Cherry

Chapter 11

Title: Rising Tension.

A/N: I figure that it's better to get on with the story rather than painstakingly go back and comb over everything. I'll try a few more chapters, but I make no promises of getting through the entire fic with changes. Hell, I don't even like my first two edited chapters. Though here you are. At last! A continuation! Swoon at my swagger!

Years. Surely it had been years since _the incident_, the unspeakable event that Sakura suppressed behind her studies and pining smiles now turned Sasuke's way.

In a futile attempt to move on, Sakura had asked Sasuke out. Despite how the male had fought for her before it was apparent that he had had enough of her and the kunoichi was left to herself, free to stave off Naruto's requests on pretense that Sasuke held her heart.

If Sakura were to be entirely honest with herself, she would have admitted that she no longer had a heart, in passing, a handsome blur of a ninja had snatched it, not even giving Sakura a chance to claim it back before moving on and leaving her empty. Much like Naruto, Sakura found herself hiding behind smiles but found she could do nothing to change it. She was afraid of what she would see under the mask she had constructed for herself. It would surely be the end of her.

So with a smile, fabricated out of years of lies and forced reassurance, she jogged to the usual meeting place for Team 7, feigning a spring in her step when she saw Sasuke leaning casually against the railing, staring at the sky as if it would hold the answers he had long been searching for.

"Sasuke!" she called, waving an arm in the air, stopping a little too close to him, a painted smile spread wide across her face. "How was your night."

A pointed look told her that it was uneventful, though that didn't deter her from cocking her hip to the side, pointing to her lip in thought and looking up at him through her eyelashes, not that he could actually see her.

"How about tonight? What are your plans?" Sakura asked, pushing out her small chest just a little more. He would blow her off like normal, but it was still in her arsenal to try so she did.

"Busy." He replied, still keeping with the annoyed tone that had developed in the conversations years ago.

Sakura let her face drop into her disappointed façade. "Oh…"

With impeccable timing Naruto ran up to them, panting just as fake as her smile. "Sakura-chan!" he chirped, blue eyes dancing from her to Sasuke, at least someone was happy to see Sasuke. Though Naruto called her name, the three knew that he was happier to see Sasuke, the man who had been his pillar of stability for more than a year now. Despite their bickering they were accustomed to, they were closer than even Sakura and Ino now, and where ninja were involved, that was close. "What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm busy, Naruto!" she growled, hands fisted on her hips as she played her roll of being upset at him even though she would love the company for the night, anything but her thoughts and nightmares.

"Actually, she's completely free." Sasuke butted in, rolling his eyes between both the male and female ninja.

Sakura laughed awkwardly, such was their usual routine, now it was Kakashi's turn to pop up, saving the pink-haired girl from more deceptive explanations.

"Sorry I'm late, guys." Came a voice from above. All three ninja looked to their leader, Kakashi, crouching on the beam spanning the bridge. "I had a run in with a lost-"

"You were just reading your perverted book again weren't you, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto butted in knowingly.

The sorry smile dropped from their teacher's face and he shook his head slowly. "Not this time, Naruto." He jumped down in the midst of them, Sakura and Naruto stepping away to give the man some personal space. "I'm afraid that the Hokage has summoned all who have passed their examination." He prodded Naruto's headband, explaining exactly which exam he was talking about with the simple gesture. "These are trying times for us, the other nations are restless, and alliances are questionable."

Naruto's blue eyes widened, he knew exactly what the older ninja was talking about. "Kakashi-sensei, you don't mean-?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei" Sakura chimed in, always the one to question. "you're not telling us that there might be a war, are you?"

The man closed his visible eye, shaking his head gingerly. "Nothing is for certain as of yet."

The three genin looked to each other, sure they had taken on what could be considered an A class mission before, and they had passed Kakashi's nearly impossible test, but a war was another matter entirely and it scared them all. There were no certainties in war, especially when it came to your allies.

"So, training is canceled today in lieu of the Hokage's call. Shall we?" he asked them; the light tone in is voice touched with anxiety and regret. No one their age should have to participate in something as horrible as a war.

They nodded solemnly, following Kakashi off the bridge and onto the dirt street, a march signifying their last day of normalcy. Other ninja could be seen, genin, chunin, jonin, even ANBU, all marching to the same place, the same morbid destination; the Hokage's tower.

Naruto turned, one last look at a bridge they wouldn't be meeting on any longer, at the place of routine and forced smiles and little problems that they would all push aside for just one more day of a happy, pretend world where everything was their friendship and that could overcome anything and everything.

Sakura stood there, not having moved from her place on the wooden structure, not wanting to let go, her face morphed into shock, fear, and regret. Naruto stopped walking as well, turning to face the girl head on.

"Sakura-chan?" Kakashi and Sasuke turned, noticing now what Naruto had but kept walking, this was something for the blonde ninja, he could relate, and while both Sasuke and Kakashi had loved, lost, felt, and pretended, no one but Naruto could do this job.

Sakura seemed to snap out of her trance as Naruto approached her, a serious expression on his usually happy face. "We have to go see the Hokage." He reminded her, something she obviously knew but maybe needed to be told again.

"I know." She replied quietly. He hadn't doubted that. "I'm just trying to…" she sighed, obviously not sure what she was trying to do, but it had to be the same thing he was trying to do when he had glanced back at their ridge.

"I know." Naruto responded, because he did. She nodded, obviously knowing the relation. "But that doesn't mean that we can stay." She nodded again; no doubt she already knew this too. "What we had here every day, even this morning, is gone. The times that we played our roles, this repetitive, save scene, all of that is gone. And whether we want it to or not, it's not coming back."

Sakura wasn't looking at him, trying to suppress tears at the sound of information she was already aware of. "Yeah." Her voice was wet and heavy, filled with the emotion she was refusing to show on her face. "I know." Sakura knew a lot of things, things found in textbooks, things sound in scrolls, and in magazines, and even things outside of them, things the people pretended she didn't. Things that she pretended she didn't.

"All we can do is move over, Sakura-chan. We can continue on the path laid out in front of us and make the best of it. We can change with change and we can live through that. It's when we don't that our future covers us and we end up drowning in it." He held out his hand for his friend to take, an offering to help her into the future.

She smiled, pretty and fake, with teeth and her eyes closing just slightly, eliciting a smile from the blonde in front of her as well. "Okay, Naruto. Thank you."

"What are friends for?" he laughed lightly, the serious conversation behind them as their peaceful training days were. Friends, all he ever actually wanted to be, comrades, friends, never lovers, never partners, always friends, it was his past that wanted more from her and Sakura noticed that as he was telling her to let go, he had let go himself.

She laughed behind him, letting him drag her towards the edge of the building where Kakashi and Sasuke had taken to waiting for them. Friends. Future. War. The weight of them pressed down upon her, and she struggled against them like an unrelenting wind, the hand clamped around hers helping her through it. This was her biggest charade yet and when they reached their comrades, ready to start the march to the Hokage's tower again Naruto dropped her hand, leaving Sakura to the mercy of the winds around them.

She choked back a sob, watching how in her minds eye her team walked on into the future bravely, leaving her alone on the path without a hand to help or without a prayer to send. They left her.

In reality they were walking in their little cluster, stepping without word towards their destination and being joined by other ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Despite the fact that she was surrounded by people, kindred spirits off to find out about a war and be sent off away from their family, away from their home to protect the village like they were trained to do, Sakura felt entirely alone. And in her mind she still was alone, just like the day that man left with her heart, just like the house that him and his siblings had occupied, just like the room she had spent days crying in.

Yes. Sakura was alone, still stuck in that room with the doors kicked in and only her sobs reverberating in the empty expanse.

Completely and utterly

Alone.


	12. A letter to the Followers

An open letter to the readers.

Hello! It has been some time since I have actively been interested in this story and writing it no longer holds for me the joys that it once did. And while my interests have grown my story has not and while I wonder why I wrote it and where the idea must have come from, I sit before my computer and find that the muse I once had was gone.

So all I ask is that you be patient with me. I promised one reader nearly two months ago that I would finally finish this story, and while I jumped into word and scribbled out half of what I wanted to write, it seemed choppy and rushed, and just plain awful. So I stopped and my life, once again, got flooded with things that one has to deal with when they leave high school and want to go into a trade as opposed to something more academic.

I implore you, once again, to stay with me as I slowly tap out the last instalment of this story for I want it to be something good. Endings are the most important part of anything, and I want all of us to walk away from this, maybe not happy, but with a sense of closure and accomplishment.

So, until I am able to satisfy both you and me with this final post, I thank you. And though I cannot express how much properly, I hope you can glean that I really do mean it.

-WAC


End file.
